Sky News Arabia says on track for 2012 launch

Sky News Arabia, British Sky Broadcasting’s (BSkyB) first
foreign-language news channel, said Tuesday it is on track to launch in early 2012.

The planned 24-hour Arabic channel has hired 70 staff and
expects to hire a further 300 by the close of the year, the company said in an
emailed statement. The network also plans to offer a graduate internship scheme
to local journalists, the statement said.

Questions were raised over the launch of the news channel
after the collapse of News Corp’s $12bn takeover bid for BSkyB in July, after
the Rupert Murdock-owned firm became mired in a phone hacking scandal.

The deal had been opposed by the British government after it
was revealed the News Corp-owned tabloid News of the World in 2002 hacked into
the voice mails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and deleted messages.

In a statement in July to Arabian Business, the Abu
Dhabi-based channel said it was “committed to the launch of Sky News Arabia in
the spring of 2012.”